Girls: Role-Play: Episode 10 Season 3 – TV Review

It was only a matter of time before things went awry in Hannah and Adam’s NYC-love-shack. On this week’s Girls, Hannah goes the extra mile to spice up their sex life, but her little adventure creates more problems than it solves. Also Felicity Jonesshows up as Jasper’s neglected daughter, and she kills it. Here’s what went down in “Role-Play.”

The Players:

Episode Title: “Role-Play”

Hannah worries about her relationship with Adam. Meanwhile, Marnie starts working at an art gallery, and Shoshanna surprises Jessa.

The Good:

The Blond: Hannah begins the episode at a bar, taking shots with her co-workers. She leaves a total mess and ends up spending the night and Joe’s. In a short but sweet scene, Joe gently showers Hannah, and we see Lena Dunham semi-naked in a bathtub once again. She tells Elijah, over burritos and bandanas, her sex life with Adam has lost its fire. She seems to think that it isn’t as exciting as it once was. You remember when he used to call her “dirty little slut” and have her hold her ankles for long periods of time? So in an attempt to spice things up, Hannah does a little role-playing. She shows up at a bar in a blond wig, pretending to be some bored housewife, and for a while she has Adam going. Dunham is absolutely amazing in that sequence. She doesn’t let Hannah break character at all. Maybe she was prepping for her SNL debut? Who knows? It was great. Hannah and Adam eventually make their way to Marnie’s apartment, which, according to Adam, smells like “cookies and airfreshner.” There they get down and dirty, but things are interrupted when Hannah switches character and starts calling Adam a “high school weirdo.” Adam then decides that he has to focus on his job and tells Hannah that he’s going to stay at his friend’s house for a while. Meanwhile, Hannah can’t believe that this is happening, and frankly, neither can we. It’s unexpected that Adam feels like he has to avoid Hannah from now on, but then again, this is the plot twist that the season needed.

The New Girl: Felicity Jones guest stars as Jasper’s insanely-allergic daughter Dottie. Along with Jasper, Jessa and Shoshanna, the four share a dynamic scene in which Dottie tries to convince her father to let her help him and get rid of Jessa. She talks about Jessa like she’s not there, saying things like, “I don’t think she’s a very nice girl Daddy.” Meanwhile, Shosh just lets the father-daughter bonding moment take over her and she produces awesome facial reactions that remind us why we love the character so much. In the end, Jasper goes home with his daughter. Shoshanna, who arranged the father-daughter intervention, also got Jessa to wind down and remember she’s a junkie who needs help.

Best Lines:

“There’s nothing weird or exciting about our sexual life anymore, he’s treating me like an ottoman with a vagina.” –Hannah

“This is not about food. There could be food, but it’s not about food.” – Shoshanna

The So-So:

The Wanna-Be: We’re beginning to feel sorry for Marnie because she just can’t catch a break. Even when she surrounds herself with “ambitious people,” they’re lame. She’s hanging out with a horrible singer-songwriter (who can’t understand that his relationship with his traveling girlfriend is probably over). Also, she’s going back into the art gallery world as a “22-year-old’s” assistant. Guess it beats nothing right?

Overall:

“Role-Play” was the episode that was bound to happen in Season 3. Now we have a couple of very important things facing several of our main characters. Hannah’s love life is now hanging by a thread, thanks to her insecurities; Jessa has hit rock bottom again, and is realizing she needs help; and Marnie is on the brink of something exciting, possibly. Will Adam and Hannah break up? Will Jessa go back to rehab? Will Marnie finally get her life together? There’s only a few episodes left, and Dunham has saved the worst for last. We can’t wait.